Shaking Off the Dust Read online

  “She will not be taken for questioning without me. You can arrange that much. You owe me, Marvin. I always knew about Kim. She made a point of telling me how treacherous my friends were. I chose to believe she was the unfaithful one. Hannah’s involved with this only as a promise to Tom. Neither he nor I considered that she might be in any kind of danger from our own government.” Shimodo was intense. He spoke Japanese for a sentence or two.

  “He’s upset,” Tom explained. “He only curses in Japanese. I’d be doing the same if I spoke Japanese. I’m so sorry I involved you, Hannah. I didn’t realize the potential fallout for you, or Takeshi.”

  “None of us realized. I mean I knew it was complicated and I hate complicated. My plan was to fake my way through this all. You know, parrot Tom’s tales of the dead. Be funny whenever possible and go home to the routine that has become comfortable and insulated. I’m sticking with my plan.”

  Marvin stood, looking around the room. “I’m going to take possession of the disc, transcript and all your test results on Hannah. I’ll try to give you a full twenty-four hours before anyone comes knocking on your door. I’ll want to verify the information I’ve already got. Attempting like hell to do that without setting off alarms anywhere.” He gathered up the files and disc. “Takeshi, I owe you. I’ve carried that guilt around for a long time. I know it’s no excuse, but I was drunk as a skunk that night. I will do everything I can to make sure you and Hannah stay together on this.”

  He left and as soon as the door closed, Shimodo came to me.

  “What should we do? What can I possibly do to prepare for an interrogation?” I pleaded.

  He took my hands. “Come on, I’ll make some tea. It will clear our heads.”

  Tom followed us into the kitchen. There was a full trash bag near the back door, so while Shimodo set water to boil and rummaged for tea, I decided to take out the garbage.

  “Are the trashcans in the back?”

  “I can do that later,” Shimodo insisted.

  “Tom will walk me out.” I headed out the back door, following him to a gate at the end of the yard. There was a wooden fence with bonsai plants on stands at intervals along the way. I opened the trashcan and the stench hit me hard. It was obvious his cousin hadn’t put out the trash for pickup. I held my breath and put in the bag. I tried to secure the lid, but it wasn’t cooperating.

  I needed to take a breath and that was a mistake. I started sneezing and coughing. I must have sneezed ten times in a row directly into the trashcan. When I stopped I noticed Tom hadn’t bothered to hang out with me. Of course, I didn’t blame him.

  “Tom, you coward.” He didn’t show up to debate that.

  I hit the lid hard until it popped in position and went back inside. After I washed my hands, Shimodo handed me a cup of tea and we walked back into the living room.

  “Is Tom still here?” Shimodo asked.

  I looked around. “No, he’s not. He must be checking up on his transplant patients.” I sat down before I felt coldness on my arm and sucked in my breath. “Tom, is that you?”

  There it was in my hand again. I jumped up. “Oh my God, Shimodo, I can’t see him or hear him anymore. I know he’s here because he keeps touching me.”

  “Calm down. Did something happen while you were outside?”

  “I started sneezing.”

  “I think that solves this dilemma. At the memorial service you inhaled Tom’s ashes. I think you sneezed them out. Unless you’re actually in contact with him, your ability to see and hear him is broken.”

  “But, we just got the FBI involved. What are we going to do? We’re screwed.”

  Shimodo smiled reassuringly. “Wait here.”

  He went to his room and came back a few minutes later with a small travel bag. He pulled out two brushes and a comb. “They’re Tom’s. There should be lots of his hair here. Try touching one.” He pulled a single strand from the brush.

  I put out my hand and touched the hair.

  “Please, be able to hear me, Hannah.” Tom was beside me, pleading.

  “Tom, thank God.” I threw myself on Shimodo. “I can see him. I can hear him again. You are so smart.”

  “Yes, and it has occurred to me that there is something I need to do.” He pulled the hair from my fingertips and put it back in the brush. He closed the travel bag and did the oddest thing. Grabbing his keys from the desk at the door, he went outside. He put the trashcan in the backseat and the travel bag in the trunk, then drove away.

  He was gone for twenty minutes. When he came back, he smiled at me and headed to the kitchen to wash his hands.

  “May I ask what you are doing?”

  “Wait a minute and I’ll explain everything.” He walked into the living room.

  “What’s going on? Where is—”

  “No, don’t say his name. I spoke with him in the car. He won’t bother us tonight unless I call him.”

  “And why is that?”

  “I met you four days ago and yet we’ve never been unaccompanied. I want to be alone with you, Hannah. I don’t want you staring off and making conversation with my best friend tonight.”

  “I guess it would drive me crazy to always feel like you’re waiting for an update.”

  “No, you don’t understand, I’m jealous. If we only have twenty-four hours, I want every minute of that time in your company exclusively. I haven’t had this much fun or wanted anyone like I have wanted you these last few days, ever.”

  “Shimodo, I realize we’ve been in a heightened situation, especially tonight with Marvin and his talk of interrogation. But it’s only been a short time since you met me. And you have to admit, despite the fact I’m just so darn funny, I’m a mess. You’re reacting to the situation, not to me.”

  He moved to stand in front of me and looked down into my face. His hand captured my chin with one finger then he bent down to lay a soft kiss on my lips.

  I made an “ooh” sound.

  He kissed the corner of my mouth and nibbled on my lips until my mouth opened and my breath came in a rush. His lips were persuasive and demanding and they covered mine, staking claim to what he wanted.

  The bad girl that I was kissed him back without hesitation. I fell into him, feeding on his mouth as he fed on mine, and sighed at how wonderful he tasted, how silken his lips were, how skilled his tongue. There was something I was supposed to remember, I couldn’t think at that moment.

  He pulled back, looking down with those amazing dark eyes. His hands skimmed down both of my arms, pulling me closer into his space, until he took my right hand and tugged me towards my bedroom. He flipped on the lamp as we entered, but I turned it off again. The bathroom light was on, the door half-open. It was enough for me.

  “I want you,” he said, a simple statement. “Don’t you feel it? There is something between us that makes me ache to touch you.”

  “Yes.” I touched his cheek lightly. “But I’m not on birth control. So we can’t.”

  His eyes were gleaming in the near darkness. “Wait.” He left me standing and was gone. Returning in record time, he held a roll of condoms.

  “Well, aren’t you the Boy Scout, always prepared.”

  “I bought them today when I went out for breakfast. All I could think about last night was you, and then when I saw you this morning in the bath, I was compelled to make this purchase. Every time I’ve been near you, I’ve had an erection, it’s damned uncomfortable. It’s ruining my ability to think rationally.”

  “We need to clear our heads here a moment. We’ll ruin any chance at a friendship, Shimodo. I can do short-term lovers, but I can’t be friends after. It’s too hard.”

  I sat on the bed and looked at my hands. I couldn’t remember if I’d washed them after taking out the trash, so I absently went into the bathroom and cleaned them.

  Shimodo came up behind me and began soaping my hands with his long fingers entwining with my own. It was an incredibly intimate thing to do. With each movement of his arms, his
lean body enveloped mine. Desire raced from fingertips to my belly as I felt his sex nudge my back. Our eyes met in the mirror as he turned off the water and reached for a towel. I dried the back of my hands, pushing him with my hip into the bedroom.

  “Take off your sweater,” I whispered against his chest. I had made my decision.

  We were standing in the light of the doorway still several feet from the bed. He pulled the sweater over his head and let it drop to the floor. I walked into him and lifted my face for a kiss. He eagerly took my mouth. I rubbed the back of my hand across his chest then turned the still wet palms against his nipples and they pebbled at my touch.

  Fingers glided down my shirt, unbuttoning as he went, until he had it around my shoulders. The blouse kept my arms and hands off of him and towards my back. He kissed down my neck and over my breasts, which were now hard and almost painful. One hand held my shirt tight against my back and with the other, he pulled down one side of my bra. I tried not to think about the fact I hadn’t worn a particularly sexy one, I always bought for comfort. It was off my shoulder now as his hand pushed it away from the breast. He spread his fingers in a light touch over the globe of my full breast and tightened his hand around it, hefting the weight in his palm. His tongue flicked out and rasped across the nipple, then he blew his breath across the wet tip. When his warm mouth covered my nipple, my whole body seemed to rise up to him. I moaned as he suckled and teased with his teeth and tongue.

  I wanted to feel him with my hands, my fingers and my mouth. But my arms were tangled in my shirt, and no matter how I squirmed and twisted, it guaranteed I couldn’t do anything but respond to his mouth and touch. He paid proper reverence to that breast before he exposed the other and spoke in admiration. At least I think so, because it was a guttural growl in Japanese. He was showing so much respect, I was moaning.

  “Let me touch you now,” I begged in a pant.

  Raising his head to look at me with dark simmering eyes, he let my hands loose. In one quick move, he unsnapped my bra and pushed away all my clothing above the waist. He walked me back as if we were dancers and he was definitely in the lead, stopping when the back of my knees touched the bed. He slid down my body to kneel in front of me, pressing his head into my abdomen, nuzzling as the palms of his hands fanned the curves of my hips.

  I touched that hair, so thick and soft, like strands of silk. I pulled with curled fingers until he tilted to look up at me. “Let me touch you.”

  He watched my expression as he unzipped my pants and slid them and my panties down to the floor, pushing them off me. I reached out my hand to touch him, but he pressed me to the bed until I fell on my back, and crawled over me like some feral creature. His hands on my chest, his mouth raining down on me like a storm. Every stroke more intense. Each time his tongue moved, I would arch, trying to pull his mouth to mine so I could return his touch. He found every sensitive spot, from my head to my groin, and wrenched sounds from me that I’d never heard before.

  I started clawing at the band of his pants, undoing his belt, unzipping him, but I couldn’t seem to control my body. His mouth was on my breast, his hands had found a moister area and I thought how unfair that he wasn’t feeling this too.

  “Let me give you pleasure, Takeshi,” I whimpered.

  “You are. I won’t last at all if you touch me, I’m so ready for you.” His voice was hoarse.

  “I don’t know how I could be any readier,” I almost screamed with frustration. I tugged on his pants until they started moving down his legs. I touched him, wrapping my fingers around him. He was long and so thick. I expected the length after our previous kisses, but the solid thickness of him was a surprise. I stroked and he grew even larger. I wanted him so bad, but now I was a little afraid.

  He found his way to my heated center, caressing me with the skill of a master surgeon. I groaned, pulling him towards my hips, trying to push away his hand.

  “Condom, please now.”

  He dipped his finger in and out of me, making me gasp with each sensation.

  “Condom, now. Now.”

  His eyes glittered as he leaned over and pulled a condom packet from where he’d thrown them on the bed. I took it from his hand and tore it open, slowly rolling it on the pale silk of his cock, covering his surprising size. I now knew what Tom had hinted at.

  He eased me under him, two fingers inside me as I rode against them, slick and hot. “I am not small, I don’t want to hurt you.” That deep voice a rumble.

  He slipped in three fingers and I was more aroused than I’d ever been in my life. He entered me, easing in until he could go no farther, but it was far from all of him. I wanted all of him. He pulled out and plunged into me again as I raised my pelvis up to meet him. He groaned, starting a slow rhythm of retreat and thrust. I moaned as he went deeper and deeper, so thick and long, fighting for entrance into my body. I was caught between him and the bed, arching to meet each drive of his hips. It was like some new taste that is so exquisite, so sweet and rich that your mouth waters waiting for more. That was what my body was doing, craving him, welcoming him.

  His mouth closed over a nipple and suckled hard, as he worked his way into my core. When he was able to glide in and out of me, he changed his angle. He found a spot that made me blind with the pleasure of it, and stayed there flexing his hips in long, slow strokes to maintain a near constant contact. He watched my face as if I was beautiful. A whisper of cold spread across my cheek and was gone.

  A pressure was growing like a living, breathing thing inside of me, ready to burst out of my pores. If I could get that one tiny bit closer against him, I’d be there. I screamed as I fell over that edge of intense sensation and his mouth closed over mine groaning into my scream.

  His changed his position, as my legs clamped around his invading body, milking him, until he lost that rhythm and faltered. I watched his own orgasm take him as his body jerked over and over. My hands were clutching his ass, pulling him against my pelvis, as my own orgasm shuddered to its end.

  His threw back his head with one final jerk of his body and opened his eyes. There was something primal in his expression. Surprise and wonder were there too. He leaned in, taking my mouth in a languid kiss, our bodies joined as one. He touched my face as he curled against me and laid his head on my chest. We both tried to slow our breathing.

  “Hannah, your heart is racing. What have I done?” He sat up.

  I put my hand on his chest and laughed. “Your heart is thundering too. Believe me it’s all part of the process. I’m still trembling. That was beyond amazing.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t spend the time to explore you more.”

  “If that’s the short version, I’m not sure I’d survive the long version.”

  “Oh, I’ll make sure you do.” He blew across my breast where I was now damp and it felt heavenly. He ran his hand lightly over my sweaty body, and dipped his head down to take the breast closest to him into his mouth.

  “You are salty and taste of sex and woman. I already crave the taste of you.” I was so sensitive it made me tingle and my groin tighten in response. I nearly arched off the bed. He seemed invigorated. “I’ll draw us a bath.”

  When I could move again, I joined him. He’d found two bottles of water, handing me one. Twisting on the faucet to the tub, he sat on the ledge. He adjusted the temperature and when it was about halfway, he got in. I noticed he’d set down a condom as well as his water bottle.

  “You think you’re going to get lucky again. I want to soak, Takeshi.”

  “We can both get what we want. We have twenty-four hours and then we don’t know how long we’ll have to wait to be together again.”

  “And already playing the sympathy card. You shouldn’t need to use that card. Ever.”

  He beckoned me to join him. I let my eyes linger on his perfect body, the muscular chest and upper arms, flat stomach and slim hips. His sex, partially hidden, was already growing hard again.

  I got into the warm wate
r and sat in front. Leaning my back against him, I was able to stretch out my legs. He turned on the jets to the lowest setting. We lay in silence for a while as I sank down into the tub.

  “We should have put on music,” I said.

  “I’m listening to you right now. You’re full of wonderful sounds.” His lips were at my left ear and his voice rumbled.

  “You mean I talk too much.”

  “No, I was thinking of more intimate sounds.” He brought his arms down around my waist and slid his right hand to cover my most sensitive area.

  His fingers teased and thrummed against my sex in a steady pulse of sensation that matched the pulse of the jets, until I writhed, willing him to continue. I purred and wanted to be able to touch him, but he kept me in front, letting my bottom dance against his erection. Through the haze of my own pleasure, I concentrated on pressing myself against him to the rhythm of his skillful fingers plunging inside me. My breath was ragged as I came unexpectedly, a silent scream that set me trembling and breathless.

  He shifted position so that I was sideways in his arms and he looked down into my face. “I’m sorry I couldn’t see your face as you came. Your features, the sounds as you come, are so erotic. I’ll be able to live on those things for a long time.”

  I rested a moment, but I was in a position now where I could touch him. Not one to waste opportunity, I used my mouth along slick skin to descend from his lips to his chest. As I progressed lower he moved up, allowing me access to more of his body. Licking the water from his chest, I teased and sucked his nipples until they were hard pebbles, biting them gently. His cock stirred and jerked against me. My hand caressed his abdomen as fingertips traced his hips and followed the triangle of his hair. I touched his cock and it sprang into my hand. Water shed from his body when he sat on the edge of the tub, offering his sex to me. I laid my head against his thigh, kneeling between his legs. With my fingertips I pushed the length of him up and used my tongue to glide a slow path along the underside of his shaft, worrying the groove at the head of his cock until he groaned. I took the tip in my mouth and let my tongue trace its dimensions as I held his sac in my hands, my finger massaging that small area below his testes. I did this many times, using his breathing as my guide.